Ian makes 6

Anna's getting baptized!

2011-05-17T21:09:00.000-07:00

I tried to get some fun photos of her, I think I'll try again when the lighting isn't so harsh. But for now I thought I'd share some of my favorites.

mother's day

2011-05-17T14:42:00.000-07:00

I'm so lucky to be the mother to these 4 kids

they make my life so fun

We went on a nice Sunday walk after the awesome dinner Chris & Everett made. I love my neighborhood. It's perfect for Sunday walks. We ended up at the holding ponds. The kids (and Chris) could throw rocks in water for hours. Paul found this "prettiest rock" and gave it to me with a kiss and a happy mother's day. I think it was my favorite gift of the day.

I love being a mom
And I love all the mom's in my life. Thank you Bonnie, Lori, & Judy!

Rachel's Baby Shower

2011-05-17T14:23:00.000-07:00

the beautiful momma-to-be sipping on some pink guava soda

all the shoes from all the guests

the gifts and take homes (thank you Tiffani & Jenae!)

So happy with the cute girly outfit from H&M

our beautiful straws that we just HAD to have

the spread...with Rachel's cute belly in the background

It was soooo much fun to plan and prepare for this baby shower. Rachel was the funnest guest of honor, she helped me decorate, weed, clean, & make my home beautiful. We all love Rachel and can't wait to see her sweet little girl (soon).

Happy Easter

2011-04-23T16:07:00.000-07:00

9 am church is hard to do on Easter morning with 4 kids (especially when mom is speaking in sacrament meeting). Luckily Grandma Judy was here to help, and Chris skipped his meetings (sick). So here is a picture of the kids after church.

all four kids hunting for eggs

Paul was so super fast. The boy didn't stop running. I loved watching him!

Anna found an egg

Ian picking an egg from a prickly bush, ouch!

all 4 kids with their loot

Easter is such a nice holiday. This year we tried (like every year) to teach the children the real reason we celebrate. We had a family home evening about the resurrection the week before. I didn't know if they really understood. Later that week Paul told me he and Anna found a dead rollie pollie, so they buried it and rolled a big rock over it. The next day we were outside and Paul found a live rollie pollie in the same dirt, he said "it was resurrected!" Too cute. I guess they do listen.

Ian's 2nd Birthday

2011-03-29T15:54:00.000-07:00

Ian turned two years old! This was the day after he got his cast removed...perfect timing!
Ian is obsessed with Thomas & friends, so we made him a cake like the island of Sodor. I think he liked it.

In the morning we let him open his Thomas flash light

that came with James & Percy pull back racers

choo chooooooooooooooo

Grandma & Kellie & kids came over to celebrate. We love having family close!

Happy Birthday Ian James!!

March MADness

2011-03-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

So before March could end, we had one more injury in the family. Four days before Ian was scheduled to get his cast off I was playing in my indoor soccer game. I LOVE soccer, and have been playing 2-3 times a week for the last 6 or so months. It is so much fun and such good exercise, and I have so much fun with the girls on my team. Chris & I played on a co-ed team for a session, and that was a ton of fun too. Anyways, I blocked a shot of a super skilled strong forward and tore my ankle up. Dr Duff said I tore all my tendons, most my ligaments and a muscle. It was one of those "really bad sprains" you hear about. Oh and Duff said if he looked long enough at the x-ray there was a fracture in there too. Awesome, huh. So for the next 5 weeks or so I stayed off my foot and hobbled around on crutches. I think I just wanted to give Ian some company.

The next Monday (3 1/2 weeks after breaking his femur) we headed in for it to be sawed off. Ian had really thought he'd be in his yellow pants forever. So when we told him they were coming off he was excited. But then when the assistant turned on the buzz saw his excitement faded, quick. We tried to cover his ears and distract him with the iTouch. It sort of worked.

After his cast was off they x-rayed him again. The bone was thicker, and stronger, and we were all thrilled (especially Anna).

Here is Ian right after it came off. Oh, and did it stink. It was like cracking a rotten egg open. Ian of course isn't rotten, well he was kind of spoiled rotten, so maybe it was fitting. I love how his legs are in the exact place they were while in the cast. He was crossing his feet before we left the office, we were all so happy to have his legs back.

I kind of thought he'd be up and running right away. He lost so much muscle and his joints were so stiff that he was happy to just crawl around without hauling the yellow pants with him. He could stand up to the couch (kind of like an eleven month old), but really was just happy to bend and sit and cross his feet like he loves to. He was walking about 2 weeks after the cast came off (sooner than mom). He looks a little bit like a stiff legged robot, but he is a happy robot and we love him!

Ian's broken leg

2011-03-10T16:23:00.000-08:00

On March 3rd, 2011 Ian was running in cowboy boots on the basketball gym floor at church when suddenly he slipped and did the splits. My friend saw it, and said he looks like he's hurt. I ran over to him, he was shaking and in pain. He calmed down on the ride home and I thought maybe he was just scared and not really hurt. After getting home I tried to see if he would stand or move his leg, and he wouldn't so I called his pediatrician and scheduled their next appointment. A couple hours later the Dr looked at him and said he probably just pulled a muscle. I had called my brother in law (the ER doc) and he said if he wasn't putting weight on it in a couple hours to take him in for X-rays. So I asked the doctor if he could have broken something. He said the only way to know would be to have x-rays. So I said, "yes, please." And we headed over to the orthopedic clinic. There they x-rayed him and a PA looked at him. A couple hours later the Doctor came in. At this point Chris was there and I had a soccer game in a half hour. I was certain he was just fine and we had all just wasted a lot of time and money. So I said to the doctor, "I have a soccer game tonight, if he's fine can I leave?". He laughed and said he had a hokey game to get to and then he examined Ian and took a look at the x-rays. Then he said, "He has a broken femur." Wow, we were all surprised! And I was a little embarrassed that I was worried about missing my soccer game. They put a temporary cast on (see pic above) and scheduled us for a hip spica cast for the next Tues (it was Thurs). We went home and Ian was pretty content (see pic above) and even comfortable sleeping that night.

The next morning the other doctor from the clinic (who had done his fellowship in peds probably 40 years ago) said he had taken a look at Ian's x-rays and wanted to cast him today, in the OR. He asked if he'd eaten anything, I told him I had just handed him a bag of fruit snacks. He told me to take them from him, but it was too late, he'd eaten them all. (: So we brought him in. Checked into the hospital. Signed his life away. Then watched them wheel his cute little blond head away on a giant hospital bed. I was scared, Chris was calm, and about an hour later Ian was awake and mad! He had some sweet yellow pants on, but his thought hurt (they put a breathing tube in) and he didn't understand what had just happened. We finally calmed him down and took him home. That first night was hard. He didn't sleep well at all. this was just before they wheeled him away
In good news, that morning his big sister lost her very first tooth on the bus ride to school. She and I sewed up a little tooth fairy to put her tooth in and she was thrilled to be as cool as every other kid in her 2nd grade class. Ian adjusted quickly. He didn't complain much. His vocabulary exploded. He learned how to say "yessss" when we finally guessed where he wanted us to take him. He played a lot, and stunk a lot, and was spoiled a LOT! So many people helped during this time. Lots of dinners, toys, and thoughtful words. We're so thankful for good friends and family and ward members. This was the first broken bone for our little family. And I'm guessing it's not the last. I picked up a doughboy from Sluy's bakery up in Pouslbo, I added a little pair of yellow pants so Ian had a look a like.

Seattle with Grandma Judy

2011-02-25T20:37:00.000-08:00

Grandma Judy had a birthday so we headed over to Seattle to celebrate. We went to the children's museum (where Anna fed grandma some tacos) then went for burgers, fries, and ice cream at Dick's. That was our first visit to Dick's, and will not be our last! Happy Birthday Grandma Judy, we love you!!

Lopez Island get-a-way

2011-02-21T20:59:00.000-08:00

We are so lucky to have family who own a little piece of heaven and are generous enough to allow us to stay. I've been visiting Lopez Island every 6ish years since I was a little girl. It was the big Jones reunion trip, and we always looked forward to it. This past summer we stayed and while talking with Mrs B, it came up that we lived here in Washington. When she heard that she said, "you should come here more often." And so we will!

The island is a perfect get-a-way. We had no internet connection, no tv, and loved every quiet minute. Well, as quiet as 4 kids and 2 parents can be in a cute little cottage while it was 30 degrees out. But the sun was shinning and we just sat back and enjoyed the view.
We visited a few beaches and collected some pretty agates.

we painted pictures, my grandma Jones was a painter so this was extra special.

we checked out the view and the sheep on the other islands with our cool spotting scope.

This picture sums up our weekend perfectly. Beautiful, scenic, fun, peaceful, and pretty much perfect. We all came home feeling recharged.

Grandpa Jones visits

2011-02-07T14:15:00.000-08:00

Somehow I convinced my dad to come up for a visit, and I'm so glad it worked! We had a lot of fun while he was here. The little boys & I picked him up from the airport and took him downtown to the Children's museum. We had lots of fun building, shopping, painting, and sculpting clay. The rest of the time he was here we played games and just had fun chatting. I think we ate ice cream every single day he was here (sometimes twice!). The thing I realized while my dad was here is that he is a really fun guy. He likes to laugh, a lot. It was so fun watching him play with the kids. I love my dad!
I was able to do some voice memo interviews on my iTouch (I love that thing). I'm looking forward to taking the stories and doing something really cool with them.

pinewood derby 2011

2011-01-21T22:11:00.000-08:00

and the flattest car award goes to Everett Thompson! He also got 4th overall and first in his den!! Oh, and he won all his heats (:

night fury

Paul's 4

2011-01-17T22:08:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Paul! The Sunday before his birthday we had your cousins and Grandpa over for a little robot cake and ice cream.

then on his actual birth day we headed to the 2nd happiest place on earth...Chuckee Cheese.

The best part of the day was going to Red Robin for dinner. Paul would not say he turned 4 yet. I kept thinking, what has to happen for this kid to feel 4. Then it did. The waitresses delivered an ice cream sunday and sang happy birthday. Then our waitress brought over a huge balloon bouquet. (some guy who turned 40 donated it to someone who would really enjoy it, and you did!) You looked like you were going to float away. It was a very fun birthday for a very sweet, kind, caring, thoughtful big boy!

family photos 2010

2011-01-07T15:45:00.000-08:00

here's a few pics from our family photo shoot. I realized this year that we always take our own photos. Always. We set the camera up on a tripod and took our own engagement photos almost 11 years ago. Kind of funny. Maybe in 2011 we'll actually pay someone to take our photos...or maybe not?

I love these 4 kids

and this sweet man

here's the "make a funny face" photo.

New Years 2011

2011-01-01T21:59:00.000-08:00

We spent New Years Eve in Bellevue. We had to go to Seattle that day anyways, so we thought, let's just get a hotel and party with the kiddos! There was a pool, tv, and free breakfast. On the way there Everett insisted we'd be able to see the space needle blow up, I had no faith. We walked in our room on the 4th floor and right outside our window was the space needle. Well out our window across some water and a few miles away. But sure enough, when the clock struck 12 we saw fireworks. We had the tv on so we could see it up close too. :) It turned out to be a really fun last minute trip. The only bummer was the next day we thought we'd go to the Children's museum, but it was closed (holiday). We had fun walking around Seattle Center anyways.

at the hotel with our ring pops.

this picture is awesome. It shows all three kids glued tot he tv!

Kasey & Ashley's wedding

2010-11-17T15:08:00.000-08:00

On November 13th, Kasey & Ashley were married in the Seattle temple. It was such a beautiful wedding. Ashley is such a sweet (and beautiful) girl. I'm so happy she's part of the Thompson family now. Their wedding was really so much fun. The wedding dinner was at a beautiful hotel in Kirkland. Kellie & I were asked to do the flowers, centerpieces and take homes. We had so much fun thinking of fun and funky decorations to go along with the fun and funky bride and groom. We made mustaches for the whole wedding party (they made for some fun pics), a candy buffet for take homes, and found some pretty white spider mums for the flowers. I was so happy to be a part of the wedding planning.

Here's some candy buffet action. The kids (and adults) loved filling their little boxes with black/red/white candies.

Ian may have had a few too many (candy).

Here's a photo of the centerpieces we did. Melted vinyl records for bowls, decks of cards, score pads (Kasey & Ashley love games & music), and some floating cranberries and a vase full of mums.

leaves fall in the fall

2010-11-07T14:34:00.000-08:00

My kids love leaf piles. (what kid doesn't?)
Anna especially loved throwing the leaf piles onto her little brothers.

Halloween Night

2010-11-01T11:20:00.000-07:00

Trick or treating with Grandma & Grandpa T

the aftermath

a little protective of his loot

"more please"
Ian was so hopped up on sugar by the end of the night..

introducing Ian the pumpkin

2010-10-31T11:05:00.000-07:00

The first time Ian saw this pumpkin costume he claimed it as his. As soon as I said "oh, Ian you are such a cute pumpkin, let's take a picture" he started walking to the back door. I opened it and he climbed up on the bench for his photo shoot. I think he catching on to the routine in this house:)

I love this boy!

pumpkin carving

2010-10-26T10:58:00.000-07:00

the kids with their carved pumpkins

Dad helped Paul create a really scary pumpkin (at least Paul thought so)

Anna the super pumpkin carver. This girl works hard from start to finish!

the big boys

Ian giving his pumpkin a kiss...he loved it that much:)

the pumpkin patch

2010-10-25T10:53:00.000-07:00

this year we found a cute little pumpkin patch in Brownsville. The farmer was so sweet, she let the kids feed her chickens, she had a bunch of little ride on toys, and had some apple cider. The older kids decided we should buy a farm so we can have chickens in our backyard...sounds like fun to me!

Balley Show

2010-10-20T13:52:00.000-07:00

We had the Robison cousins here for a weekend. Anna was thrilled to have a couple more girls in the house. One of the days I was invited to a balley (ballet) show. This is what I found. They were all so cute. I think I could almost have 7 kids...ok, maybe not.
the boys turn

even Everett got into it (in his boxers)

nice form Maddie!

Portland

2010-10-13T23:08:00.000-07:00

Kip and Melanie blessed their beautiful baby boy Brady over Labor day weekend. We got to go to Portland and enjoy a family weekend away. We headed out to Oaks Park (thanks for the recommendation Parri!), met Kasey's girl Ashley, met baby Brady, and swam in our hotel pool (very high on the cool things we did list...for the kids anyway). It was fun times and we're so happy for Kip & Mel and Kasey & Ashley.
Unfortunately we only got our giant camera out at Oaks Park or else we'd have some sweet pics of: the entire group outside of church on Sunday, some on the train into Portland, and defiantly a couple of us riding the 8 seater bikes. Those things were rad, until Chris turned too sharp and fast and Everett fell out, that wasn't so fun. Anyways...it was great to spend a weekend with family in such a fun place. Thanks for having us Thompsons! We'll be back to visit.

one of our favorite family traditions

2010-10-13T22:45:00.000-07:00

dad. anna. everett. ian. paul. (mom behind camera)

anna's so sweet, she doesn't like to eat blackberries but she picked a bag full for the rest of us.

Ian did wake up with a sweet smelling diaper that night, I guess we should have stopped him...

brothers

2010-10-13T22:28:00.000-07:00

I love having play days with these two boys. It's going to be fun watching them grow up together.

back to school

2010-09-03T10:55:00.000-07:00

School is back in session and the kids couldn't be more excited!

We had such a fun summer, but it's always fun to learn and play and see old friends

they were especially excited to ride the bus (they get to sit in a new row since they're in a new grade...exciting!)

of course it was raining, so here they are all bundled up waiting for that bus:)

We're looking forward to a great school year! Lot's of learning and making new friends. Good luck kiddos!

sunday afternoon treat

2010-09-03T10:48:00.000-07:00

Paul

2010-08-29T22:04:00.001-07:00

someone has learned how to write his name. I went outside the other day and found all these attempts. Not bad for a 3 yr old:)

you can call him ulap

this one is just crazy, it's totally perfect in mirror. He must have put the bump on the "p" on the wrong side and figured he'd go with it.

meteor shower

2010-08-29T21:56:00.001-07:00

Chris took the big kids out to big beef creek to watch the meteor shower. Everett saw 17 and Anna saw 11. Chris took some really cool pictures with long exposures. I'm loving them all!

Lopez Island

2010-08-19T16:00:00.001-07:00

Lopez Island was always the favorite family reunion destination as a kid. We'd head up north every 6 years and enjoy the beautiful trees and water. Now I live in a place that looks a lot like Lopez. I was a little worried I wouldn't find it as beautiful as in years past...luckily it still has it's charm. Chris & I actually spent our honeymoon up here (10 years ago). We had so much fun just enjoying the property, kayaking, camping, fishing, hiking, agate hunting, and crabbing. Thank you Bumsteads for letting us come and stay!

Cub Scout day camp

2010-07-19T14:45:00.000-07:00

Everett is now a bear. Which is pretty cool I guess. For a week in July he got to go to cub scout day camp. He had a lot of fun shooting bb guns, arrows, and making some cool alien crafts. Here's some pics from the last night at camp...the skits (that may or may not have gone on for way too long).

Gilmont Cove

2010-07-15T14:58:00.000-07:00

I now serve in the primary presidency with some really fun girls: Rachel, Kanoe & Pat! For FHE the other week we went on a little hike to Gilmont Cove (Pat couldn't come...her husband just had both hips replaced). It was beautiful...the kids had a blast (until the hike out).

4th of July

2010-07-08T14:24:00.000-07:00

We got together with the Thompson Family for the 4th.

Port Angeles. Pizza. Ping Pong. Dungeness Spit. Donuts. Forks. Falls. Fireworks. and lots of Fun.

Rockets

2010-06-26T14:35:00.000-07:00

Chris' dad gave him the rocket kit that they used when he was a kid. It is way fun to go shoot rockets. Our first flight (last year) sent the rocket into a tall tree. Now we go to a bigger field:).

Everett's Mario Party 9

2010-06-20T14:12:00.000-07:00

Everett loves Mario Bros...so we decided to have a Mario Party 9 birthday party. We made games similar to the Wii game and made hat, coin pouches, and mustaches for the boys to wear. It was a lot of work, I mean fun:)

Everett

2010-06-11T21:07:00.000-07:00

the audience

Ian looks like he really enjoyed it...:)

Anna's Birthday

2010-06-11T21:00:00.000-07:00

sunday walks

2010-05-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

there is the most beautiful farm right behind our neighborhood. They have horses, cows, bulls, and a cute little goat named ____. Ever once in a while when we've got a bag or 2 of carrots we head on a little walk.

Father & Sons

2010-05-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

(almost) every spring Chris get's to take the boys on a father and son camp out. This time it was 2 to 1:)

Paul was excited to help

They camped near a lake and got to go fishing in a boat. The boy in the middle is Paul's buddy Cooper.

The father and the sons

Oh, and while the father and sons were away the mother daughter and baby son had a fun sleep over with some friends:)

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

I love being a mother. I am so happy to be a mother to my 4. They are good little people and I hope to help them to become great. I LOVE Everett Anna Paul & Ian

Hawaii

2010-05-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

There aren't words to describe how I feel about our trip to Hawaii. Well maybe there are a few, relaxing, amazing, quiet, warm, fun, adventurous, and sunny.

Chris & I earned enough sky miles to take this trip at our 5 year anniversary. It didn't happen then, so the miles have just been sitting there waiting for us to use them. In February I started thinking about taking the trip, and it just worked out. We were able to have our little boys stay with Aunt Kellie and the older ones stayed with good friends during the school week. I feel so lucky we had people we could trust, it was a big deal for me to leave them, but I felt totally confident that they would be taken care of.
We flew out early Tuesday morning, and stayed in Poipu on the south shore the first two nights. Wednesday was our actual anniversary so Chris surprised me with breakfast room service and an evening sailing trip. (plus the sweetest book he made that is kind of hard to explain but totally made me cry) We headed to the North Shore on Friday. We got to our rental and I just hated it, there was a weird vibe and I knew we wouldn't be happy there. We found another place and cut our losses and stayed there the rest of the trip. This place was fabulous, it had everything we wanted and was so comfortable.

The rest of the week we relaxed on beaches, snorkeled, hiked, kayaked, biked, ate yummy onion rings and just enjoyed being together (without kids).

I'm so glad we went, it was a blast!

today

2010-04-16T17:31:00.000-07:00

The End

baseball

2010-04-10T19:35:00.001-07:00

Easter morning

2010-04-08T20:41:00.000-07:00

mmmmm, chocolate

the kids were so funny, after they got a few pieces of candy they were done, and there were still a ton of candy all over the room. We were shocked!

stopping for a jellybean break

go go go

I have such good memories of candy hunts on Easter morning. Growing up the Easter bunny would always bring big old chocolate bunnies for all 8 kids. I thought it was the coolest thing. Not cool enough to continue that tradition. I mean the chocolate isn't even that tasty, and they're kind of just huge.

Easter Egg hunt

2010-04-07T12:57:00.000-07:00

it's been decided, we have a great back yard for an egg hunt. If only the weather would cooperate, it'd be perfect.

snowy spring break

2010-04-06T12:21:00.000-07:00

on friday we woke up to SNOW! on spring break. We couldn't believe it!!

The first words out of Paul's mouth were "I gonna throw a snowball at you mom". haha

By the time we had all the snow gear out of the attic (since this was the first snow of the year!) the snow had turned to rain. The kids didn't mind. They played until their hair/hats were sopping wet. Even Ian insisted on going out. It was a fun wet snowy spring break day.

happy........day

2010-04-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

birthday boy

2010-03-29T11:21:00.000-07:00

Ian is 1

2010-03-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

more pictures later

enjoying the sun

2010-03-20T21:35:00.000-07:00

spring cleaning

2010-03-14T16:03:00.000-07:00

Anna is actually in both of the photos, you can hardly see her in the first.(and that is why we cleaned:))

after:

a place for everything, and everything in it's place.

I love (this kind of) Spring Cleaning. Let's hope this lasts!

I had to put this picture up (even though it is blurry). Ian loves being outside. Every time the door opens he starts racing towards it to escape. This picture just captured his happiness. I love this boy!

The rest of this post is for my sister Jeanette, she wanted to see our "no school" friday creations.

Anna wanted some peeps the other day, but we'd eaten our frozen stash and couldn't make it to the store. So instead we made our own peeps...with felt. I found tutorials here and here.

Everett & Anna sewed their own, it was cute to see them with needles and thread in hand.

crazy faces

2010-03-09T19:17:00.000-08:00

by Anna
(note: the photographer has included a self portrait in this series)

honestly, when Anna gets a hold of the camera we always laugh at the results.

I love my little photographer:)

Valentines 2010

2010-02-14T23:25:00.000-08:00

I love these 4. (and their daddy a lot!)

Valentines makes me want to craft. Even though it is sort of a girl holiday (as miss Anna would say) we had fun with our 3 boys too. Music makers was so fun with heart shakers, heart faces, and my favorite mustache suckers. I found a pattern for love birds and had so much fun making them for the kids. They are the perfect size for little Ian's hands and my older kids liked pretending with them. Anna & I cut some potato stamps and decorated a handful of construction paper sheets. That's when she said, "valentines is sort of a girl holiday, well, I guess the boys have Halloween." That sounds fair to me:)

flash forward

2010-02-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

Something about this photo made my mind flash forward 6 years (I don't know why I thought 6 years in the future, I just did). I could almost picture these 4 sitting around this same table gobbling down their breakfast. In 6 years Everett will be 14, old enough to go to youth dances, weird. Anna 12, a little beehive, (hopefully) super eager to babysit. Paul will be 9, in 3rd grade just like Everett. And Ian will be almost 7, like Anna, in first grade...my baby in 1st grade! I think the years will fly by. I think I'll miss the booster seat and the baby spoons. (not the diapers)

I love my kids.

saturday is a special day

2010-02-08T12:01:00.000-08:00

Saturday was such a nice day, and we didn't have anything that we had to do.

So we played outside, planted some flowers, trimmed some bushes, went to an estate sale (well, me and a friend did), road bikes, played catch, and to end it all Chris and I went to see Avitar (that is a GOOD movie).

I love Saturdays!

Anna gives a little

2010-01-25T20:40:00.000-08:00

of herself...

doesn't she look so stinking cute! She was happy to give a little (or lot!) of her hair to help out someone who needed it more than her. She was so brave, I was so proud.

1st place

2010-01-24T11:43:00.000-08:00

Everett competed in his first pinewood derby...and he followed in his dad's footsteps and won first place! I guess it is family tradition to win. Chris' dad handed down all the research and materials to make a winning car. Chris had Everett draw up his car, mark it on the wood, Chris cut it out, Everett sanded, painted, sanded, painted and Chris put the wheels on. I think he let him do a little bit more than his dad let him do as a kid.

His first race down the track he won, the car next to him came in a hit his, busting his front wheel right off. We were all a little worried he wouldn't be able to race, but the judges let him hot glue it back together, weigh it in and race. He raced something like 12 times and won EVERY single race. I was a bit shocked. Chris was too, he kept saying there are a lot of engineer dad's in our area that could make some sweet cars. And they did, but I think Grandpa T's magic dust made for another winning car. It was fun to watch. It was good to see Everett win. I was proud of my boys:)

Paul's 3rd Birthday Party

2010-01-15T15:36:00.000-08:00

Today was Paul's first friend birthday party. It was so much fun! He invited a few of his best buddies to celebrate. They pretended to be firefighters saving kitty's up in a tree, shooting out fire in cardboard buildings, and making their own pizza's. (cause everyone knows firefighters like to cook!) I think the boys enjoyed themselves. I know Paul was loving every minute of it. Especially the presents part. Happy Birthday Paul!

(thanks Rachel for taking all the pictures!)

Happy New Year!

2010-01-15T15:18:00.000-08:00

Marti, Colby & Olivia came up for new years. We had so much fun!

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T00:07:00.000-08:00

gingerbread home FHE

2009-12-17T18:12:00.001-08:00

For FHE this week we let the kids decorate some gingerbread houses. Kellie & I decided it would be fun to hand make the gingerbread this year. It was a LOT of work, but totally worth it. Next year we'll have even more fancy stuff going on. The kids had a blast!

Now, if I can just keep them from eating the whole thing before Christmas. These boys are such good buds. We love having cousins near by.

This is the train Chris' dad had when he was a kid. There are some serious benefits to being (married to) the oldest son of the family:) Thanks Merlin.

Chris is 36

2009-12-11T13:03:00.000-08:00

36 candles makes for a GIANT flame...

this is right after he blew them out (in one breath). check out Ian's face!

the aftermath

we found this giant gift bag at the dollar store. Inside it was an iTunes gift card. (tricky, huh) Later it was used as human gift wrap.

Happy Birthday Chris. Thanks for being such a good husband, father, son, YM president, instructional designer, garbage taker-outer, video guy, byu fan, scooter riding man. WE LOVE YOU!!

O Christmas Tree

2009-11-30T00:10:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-30T00:03:00.000-08:00

We had such a nice Thanksgiving this year. Chris' sister hosted our thanksgiving feast...it was DELICIOUS! It was so fun getting together with Chris' family. We ate, played games, played {BEATTLES} rockband, ate some more, relaxed, found out Chris brother's wife is pregnant!, ate again, Chris watched football, and Kari & I did a little black friday shopping. It was great times, thanks Galvagnos! We love living close to family (wish you could have been there Kellie & Kasey!)

roller skating party

2009-11-25T20:57:00.000-08:00

Anna was invited to her first roller skating party this weekend. I had so much fun watching her and her little friends skating around (the edge) of the rink. I can totally remember learning how to roller skate. How scary and exciting it was. I even had my 9th birthday party at the rink near sunrise mall. Why do roller skating rinks all smell the same?

she worked those little legs so hard, she was tired and ready to go home. (that is frosting from a yummy dairy queen cake on her shirt)

here she is happy to be taking the skates off. We had so much fun!

oh, and here is a picture from New Moon on Friday. It was such a blast! Thanks Rachel!!

(minus 2, I guess the girl taking the pic didn't realize Paige and Michelle were with us) You can't totally tell from the pic but we all were sparkling like vampires. It took a few days to get off all the glitter:)

Notes

2009-11-13T15:17:00.000-08:00

From: Anna To: Mom Love you mom!

Mom, I think you are nice to me and I love you mom!

From: Anna to: Everett and Connor

Everett I think that you are worse than mom! You too Connor!

Wait, what!? Because mom is {obviously} the worst? sad.

If you can believe it these notes were written on the exact same piece of paper. She just tore the sweet one from the bottom of the not so sweet one. She hand delivered the first to me, which I read and loved and gave lots of hugs and kisses for. About 5 minutes later I hear Everett and his friend Connor saying, "mom, Anna is trying to black male us". I had no idea what they were talking about until I saw the second (not so nice) note. I don't even know what to say, or think!

On a happier note, Ian had an orange hat on his head after dinner.

Happy Halloween part 2

2009-11-12T16:41:00.000-08:00

So my sweet friend Rachel (who doesn't have 4 kids, I might add:) took some cute pictures of my little monkey Ian. Thank goodness for friends!

brothers

2009-11-10T23:25:00.000-08:00

I love having 2 boys in a row. I'm so excited to see these two grow up together.
The other day we went for an afternoon walk. When we strolled into our driveway I realized they had both fallen asleep. When I peeked inside, this is what I saw. I had to run grab the camera. I love love love that they are holding hands. Too sweet.
I love my boys.

Funny thing Paul does right now: Whenever Ian goes to grab a toy that Paul wants Paul says, "no, no baby, Ian choke on it" It's never actually choking hazard size, it's just Paul's way of "protecting" his brother (or maybe just protecting his toy):)

Ian is crawling all over the place. He even climbs up the steps. Every time I go get him from his crib he is standing up! I can't believe how fast this little guy wants to grow up. He isn't little anymore!

Happy Halloween

2009-11-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

on the way to the trunk-or-treat

Chris is facebook...it took anyone who didn't watch the Office a minute to figure it out:)
he's a mean old witch with a hat

Ian found a colored pencil and tried to eat it:)

I can't believe I didn't get a picture of him in his cute monkey costume. I'll have to dress him up again and get a pic for his first Halloween!! (poor 4th child)

pumpkin carving

2009-10-26T11:41:00.000-07:00

we have some serious pumpkin carvers

here's the end result. Oh, and Ian checking out his pumpkin warming by the fire (they've been outside for a few days...we didn't want to freeze our hands!)

spider webs

2009-10-16T12:49:00.000-07:00

it looks like some teenage spiders have been toilet papering our tree. I haven't seen the spider(s) responsible for this...but maybe that's a good thing!

we love food

2009-10-09T11:17:00.001-07:00

conference morning pancakes

I just loved this picture. I love how the 3 older kids are so into eating, how I am all blurry in a hurry making pancakes, and Ian is staring right at his daddy. (does anyone else have half their cabinets open while cooking?)

I'm pretty sure Paul asked me if he could pour his own cinnamon, I guess I said yes...

a fruit pizza I made for our "annual" YM pres. BBQ.

I found this guy like this the other morning.

(a bagel for each hand)

Crescent Lake

2009-10-05T15:51:00.000-07:00

So we went on a quick little family campout in August (and I forgot to blog about it!) Here we are at the campground. Crescent Lake is so blue and beautiful. I'm so glad we ended up there.

we hiked up to sol duc falls...it was really neat. I had to take a picture of the road sign, we were just miles from Forks. Chris said, "we can go if you want honey". But I thought I'd save that trip for someone who would actually enjoy it with me:). On the way home we ate dinner in the train, Paul kept asking when we were going to "go". And Inchy the inchworm joined our family (for about a week). He was really fun to watch.

Look who's sitting up!

2009-09-13T17:44:00.000-07:00

and he likes to do a few push ups in between.

Port Gamble

2009-09-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

Chris' sister Kellie and her family moved up to Port Orchard at the beginning of the month. We are so excited to have them up here! We have similar aged kiddos so it's going to be fun to watch them grow up together. For Labor day weekend we watched football (go BYU) and then headed to Port Gamble on Monday. It is such a quaint little town. Here are some pics from our visit.

We love where we live, and having the Robisons here makes it that much better!

first day

2009-09-02T10:34:00.001-07:00

The kids were so excited to start school this morning. Anna is most excited for 2 recesses, and Everett is too. (ummm, wasn't summer break like a huge recess?) They are too funny. I'm happy they get to be at school...making friends, learning, and playing. And I'm excited for more one on one (or two) time with my little boys.

baby armadillos

2009-08-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Anna walked in with her armadillo the other morning...I thought it looked like someone I knew:)

if you are wondering where we got this sweet stuffed animal, Chris brought it home from a business trip to San Antonio. Anna was so thrilled, it is a mommy armadillo with a velcro pouch that a tiny baby armadillo can be pulled out of. I was pregnant at the time, so it was pretty funny!

high adventures

2009-08-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

When Chris got called as the Young Men's president last year I was excited for him. I knew he'd enjoy all the activities (mostly basketball) and especially all the camping/hiking. I also knew he'd love the 50 miler he started planning months ago. But, I started to wonder what I (and our 4 kids) would do for the 6 days while he was away.

We ended up having a great {busy} week! First my cousin and her 4 kids came up for a slumber party. My kids were so excited to have friends stay the night. They played a ton (of wii) and we had a lot of fun keeping them busy. We even made my kitchen into the tiger cafe for dinner...whiskers, stripes, paws, and fangs. It was delicious!

the girls eating tiger's tail and paws and drinking tiger's bloodthe kids watching Incredibles (man that movie is good!)

The next day I got an invite from Bonnie to go camping...without our husbands (who were both on the 50 miler with the boy scouts). At first I thought, "no way, I hardly like going to the mall with all 4 kids". But then I thought (after asking Bonnie if she can make a fire-which she can), I could do this, and my kids would love it. And I did, and they did. The weather wasn't perfect, but the campground was gorgeous! It was on Lake Kachess in the Cascade mountains. The kids had so much fun riding their bikes around the campsite, hoping rocks on the river, swimming in the lake, and burning stuff in the fire. Ian slept great, there is something about fresh air that is so refreshing:). I'm so glad I was brave and did it! {Thanks for inviting us Bonnie!}my happy camperwe were all so excited to see Chris after 6 days. He was super surprised to see us there at the end of his hike...it was awesome!

we're back

2009-08-10T19:08:00.000-07:00

from a great vacation to Idaho. We were able to go to the Big Ball reunion, Yellowstone, Rigby Lake, a cute little train ride, the sandunes, Drew's beautiful cabin at Palisades Resiviour, and stop by Shashone Falls on the way home. It was a lot of fun to see family and friends. We're so glad we went!

below is a slideshow of a bunch of photos from our trip...

Idaho 2009

2009-08-10T11:23:00.001-07:00

dog biscuits for sale

2009-07-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

Everett has cub scout day camp next week. They've asked that the boys earn 1/2 the fee to attend. I wasn't going to bother (I paid it months ago), but then I saw this little idea on a blog somewhere. It was a lot of fun, had simple ingredients, and was basically like making sugar cookies (except you bake them for 30 min).
And they tasted alright.

we packaged them up all cute

and headed out into the neighborhood.

he did pretty good. The best part was watching him. I'd written up a little script for him to say. He was so cute, as soon as the door started to open I'd hear, "Hi, my name in Everett" I was so proud of my little cub {scout}

oh, and yesterday we made these fun play dough cookie pops. They were a lot of fun!

Mariner's Game

2009-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Chris took Everett to the Mariner's game this week. They met up with Kasey, Grandpa & Grandma. I think they had a blast!
If you need a good laugh, check out this video of Everett showing off his dancing skills (watch out SYTYCD, we've got your next contestant!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5QqXbG9Djc

oh, and look who found his thumb!

4th of July

2009-07-08T09:10:00.001-07:00

we had a really fun 4th of July this year.

Here's Anna all patriotic with her cupcake (she helped me make those little flag toothpicks) we had a few families from our ward over for a BBQ and fireworks.

Everett with his sparklers

the kids and I made these confetti pull rockets. After a few pulls, they actually worked:)

my favorite part of the night was when Dave put on his climbing gear and hung our swing for us. Paul thought it was so cool there was a guy up in the tree. Later he walked outside and said, "huh, where's guy?".

the next day enjoying the swing. The kids say they feel like they are flying.

our big weekend

2009-06-29T14:06:00.000-07:00

Ian was blessed

Everett was baptised

and we had an ice cream party!

We feel so loved to have had so many people come be a part of our weekend. Thank you to all of you for coming. Can't wait to see more of you this summer!

more fun

2009-06-29T14:04:00.000-07:00

we took Olivia & Marti to the Science Center

the families at Scenic Beach (love that pic of Paul with his Grandpas)

lots and lots of cousin fun...we had a few cans of whipping cream left over from the ice cream party...so we had a little contest.

Everett's 8!

2009-06-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe I've been a mother for 8 {wonderful} years! I still remember the first time I held Everett in my arms, it was magical, and life changing. I'm so glad I get to be a mom to him (and Anna and Paul and Ian).

Here's some pictures from his big day:

at the family pancake house for breakfast before school (where he got sprinkles on his hot chocolate and a pancake face with a candle in it's nose)

Paul eating one of the "8" cookies we made for Everett's school buddiesEverett got his very own set of scriptures (I got the same one's when I was 8, and still use them (almost every day;)the razor scooter. I'm not sure why it's taken us so long to get him one... he's loving itHere is the biggest cake flops EVER. I tried to make him a pokeball cake (his friend Logan had the best one ever!). This was made in a ball cake pan, I followed the directions, but apparently 40 minutes isn't quite long enough...whoops!so we went to the store where he picked Lofthouse frosted sugar cookies for his "cake". Maybe we should make this a tradition ...they're really good with ice cream!

(thanks for the table cloth Parri) we went to a cool island park where we tested out the scooter and his new game from grandpa

and found this cool tree to climb in

mr bow tie

2009-06-14T16:44:00.000-07:00

I love Target! They had these little bow ties in the dollar spot for Easter, then they had them 75% off after Easter = 25 cent cuteness

Anna is 6!

2009-06-05T10:01:00.000-07:00

Anna turned 6 yesterday!

In our family it's tradition to get your first big kid bike on your 6th birthday. So we started looking for the perfect bike for ms. Anna. We liked a bunch, but when I saw this beauty on craigslist, I couldn't pass it up. I mean, it has a banana seat (just like the bike I got when I turned 6), and the banana seat has polka-dots on it...it was like it was meant to be. Chris got a basket, bell, and training wheels to make it perfect.

She loves it!

Here's a shot of her with all her cute little friends at her polka-dot party. The girls had so much fun!

Anna's polka-dot Party

2009-06-05T09:55:00.000-07:00

I think I'm addicted to these collages...they're just so fun to make!

scenic hike

2009-05-23T22:39:00.000-07:00

I love to hike. Tonight we went on our first "family of 6" hike, and it was so much fun! The kids did great, and the trail was long (over 1.5 miles each way!) and not flat. Chris & I got a work out carrying the babies (his was much heavier than mine:). Here are some pics of our adventure:

(over the shoulder shot)

there was a lot of pointing at cool things "mom take a picture of this"

and a super cool tree house
the 3 big kids running down the path
Paul was so excited to go over this bridge
all 4 kids (that's an apple in Anna's mouth:)
the beach at the end of the trail

Ian smiling at mom

He loved the hike, didn't make a peep the whole time!

Everett found this and decided, "this must have been a hanger the cave men used"

don't you love silhouette shots...Chris always thinks of cool pics to take

mother's day video that Chris made

2009-05-11T14:15:00.001-07:00

mother's day

2009-05-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

I'm so lucky to be the mother to these 4 little people. Each of them has such a unique personality and brings a lot of joy to Chris & I.

Here's a good example, Everett said let's do something cool for this shot...this is what we got (apparently only he and Anna know what cool means)

the biggest surprise on mother's day was when I woke up and smelled something yummy in the oven. Earlier in the week I had come across this recipe for an apple strudel. I emailed it to Chris as a joke with the message, "this would be good for mother's day breakfast". I thought he knew I was joking, I mean, the recipe had 3 different components, the apple mixture (yes, he pealed and sliced 3 apples), the pastry layer (he used 2 knives to cut the butter in) and homemade frosting. He's only made mac & cheese, pizza, and nachos for the kids in the past. But he thought my email suggestion was for real. He said I thought you thought I could make it:). So he did. And it was GOOD! Thanks honey! Oh, and church was at 9am...extra impressive, huh!

me with my 4

and I'm so grateful for all the mom's in my life...

catching a smile

2009-04-28T19:43:00.000-07:00

going from this...

to this... (his lip is going the wrong direction:)
to finally THIS!
don't you just love gummy smiles and the way their eyes turn!
My baby is growing up...so fast!!
(and why is it my camera only over exposes on the smile shot?)

tower o

2009-04-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

leftovers

sorry to all the pregnant ladies out there...

lazy sunday

2009-04-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

here's a few pics of the kids enjoying a sunny Sunday

I love the white dress Anna is wearing (thanks Kaylee!)

9 years

2009-04-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Today Chris & I celebrate 9 years together. I am so grateful I married the man I did. He continues to amaze me, and I am blessed to have him as my husband and as the father to my children.

I Y Chris

brothers

2009-04-18T13:42:00.000-07:00

sad boys

2009-04-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

this one is throwing up...

this one got circumcised this morning...

Ok, this one isn't a boy, but she wanted to pose after I took the pics of her brothers...she's actually feeling great (knock on wood), and is a big help. She even caught some of Paul's puke in the bowl!

Easter

2009-04-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great Easter this year! Saturday we went down to my cousin Wendy's house and had a fun easter egg hunt in her backyard (along with good company and yummy hoagies). The kids had a blast hunting for eggs, and it's a good thing because Easter Sunday was rain, rain, rain so the bunny couldn't hide the eggs outside.
We had a little candy hunt in the living room first thing Sunday morning. Grandma & Grandpa brought over yummy fixings for our Easter dinner, which was so sweet (and yummy)! The kids went on a hunt for their Easter baskets (one in the closet, dryer, and kitchen cabinet...silly bunny!) We also got some good pics of Ian in his Griffey jersey Grandma found at the M's store. (Chris is loving living in WA for the Mariner's season, but holy cow, baseball is like every night!)

Easter Eggs

2009-04-10T13:25:00.000-07:00

Here's the egg artists with their creations

And here's Paul, after eating his pink truck egg, yum!

and here's a pic of Ian, with his eyes open (I think he's a little worried he might roll out of sisters arms!)

Ian James

2009-04-02T11:35:00.001-07:00

Here's some photos I took of the baby. He is such a good boy. We are loving having him in our home!